This is Paddy, who is what you’d call a happy accident. When I saw him advertised on facebook, I really did not intend to end up giving him a home. Really. But I casually asked a couple of questions and heard no more. Then I get a message back a fortnight later, and the guy sounds desperate to rehome him, and next thing I’m bringing home a tiny three year old cob stallion, who turns out to be not quite two. Makes a change as they are usually older than people say, not younger.

This week we went off to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, to their annual Horse Ploughing and country skills day. Apart from anything else it was a good chance to go and have a look at everyone’s harness, as it turns out that literally every single set seems to be different in some way, and we fancied seeing how ours compared.

After my recent visit to Bantry to learn some more about working horses, it was time to get things moving here at home, and so Rain has gone off to hoof camp for a couple of weeks in Glengormley, with John McDermott, to learn how to pull things.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be around horses for 30 years now, and very early on, decided that horses would be my career. I’m ashamed to say that it is only now that I am getting to grips with pasture management. From a permaculture point of view,...

This is Rain. He’s a two year old cob, who came to live with us this weekend, having been a resident at Holly’s Horse Haven, a horse rehabilitation and rescue centre in County Louth. He seems to have been more neglected than mistreated, and so apart...

Horses are the most benign, friendly non agressive creatures, right? Well – never annoy one, or you might just end up like Mel. He must have upset Sherafey yesterday, because he came in from the field with a huge hole in his neck. She must have been very...